Johnny Nargoodah and Trent Jansen — Ngumu Janka Warnti (All Made from Rubbish) Chair, 2020

Ngumu Jangka Warnti (2020) is the Walmajarri phrase for ‘whole lot from rubbish’. It is part of the 'Partu' (skin) collection, and collaboration between Johnny Nargoodah and Trent Jansen, and began with a trip to the local scrap metal yard in a vague search for anything interesting. Here, a selection of discarded aluminium mesh was salvaged and used as the starting point for experimentation. A substrate was cut haphazardly in the shape of a chair. It was then whacked with hammers, concrete blocks and tree stumps until a desired form was achieved. This beaten geometry was then softened by laminating New Zealand saddle leather to skin the mesh, masking its geometry and tempering its idiosyncratic undulations.  

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Johnny Nargoodah and Trent Jansen have been collaborating in the design and crafting of collectable furniture since 2016. They first met in Johnny’s home town of Fitzroy Crossing, as part of Fremantle Art Centre’s ‘In Cahoots’ project where they worked with fellow Mangkaja artist, Rita Minga to design an armchair that was their interpretation of a local mythical creature called ‘Jangarra’ (2017) and now in the permanent collection of the NGV. Johnny is a Nyikina man who has spent much of his life working with leather as a saddler on remote cattle stations. Trent, based in Thirroul, NSW, is an avant-garde object designer who regularly experiments with leather and animal pelts. Their collaborative work sees them cohesively marry their oddly mismatched and unorthodox sensibilities and skills in working with animal skins, to create culturally significant objects of craft and design. 

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The Chair 

Anna Varendorff, Ash Allen, Ashley Eriksmoen, Bern Chandley, Bonhula Yunupingu & Damien Wright, Brodie Neill, Brud Studia, Cordon Salon, Dean Norton, Duncan Young & Noah Hartley, Georgia Weitenberg, Isabel Avendano-Hazbun, James Lemon, Jess Humpston, Jill Stevenson, Johnny Nargoodah & Trent Jansen, Nicole Lawrence & Thomas Coward, Liam Mugavin, Marta Figueiredo, Michael Gittings, Sam Tomkins, Iain [Max] Maxwell & Ben Ennis-Butler, Trent Jansen for Broached Monsters by Broached Commissions, Two Lines Studio, Zachary Frankel.

Read more about The Chair here

'The Chair' exhibition is the first in a series presented by Craft Victoria honouring iconic objects of functional craft and design with a material driven approach.

Material: New Zealand leather and aluminium

Dimensions: 90 x 50 x 60 cm

Edition 1 of 20 + 2 AP. Please enquire with the team at Craft for details shop@craft.org.au or call +61 3 9650 7775